Horsehair or a coarse fabric made from horsehair, historically used for stuffing furniture and making stiff fabrics.
From Old French 'crin' and Latin 'crinis,' meaning hair. Historically, crin referred specifically to horsehair, which was valued for its strength and stiffness in textile and furniture production.
Victorian furniture was often stuffed with crin (horsehair), which is why antique couches feel so firm and scratchy—the horsehair would eventually shift and poke through the fabric, creating that characteristic lumpy, uncomfortable feeling of old furniture.
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